Listen: “We know people are doing lots of work to improve things for birds with predator-free initiatives and restoration initiatives” – Survey co-ordinator Dr Angela Brandt
RNZ’s Morning Report talked all things Garden Bird Survey with survey co-ordinator Dr Angela Brandt recently.
Twitchers are recording more kererū, pīwakawaka, and tūī in their backyards each year, according to the garden bird survey.
Manaaki Whenua landcare research has been co-ordinating the mid-winter citizen science project for 16 years.
It was now noting longer-term trends, such as population growth slowing.
Over ten years, kererū counts show a moderate 83 percent increase and an increase of 10 percent over five years.
There were 55 percent more pīwakawaka over 10 years compared to the shallow increase seen in recent years.
Meanwhile, korimako (bellbird) numbers have fallen more than a quarter in several regions.
Survey co-ordinator Dr Angela Brandt told Morning Report every participant spends an hour in their garden each day during the survey and records the maximum number of each species they hear or see.
Since 2012, bird counts have been gathered from almost 44,000 garden surveys.
